


AC Syndicate Drabbles

by PoetHrotsvitha



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Drabble Collection, Multi, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 09:44:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 4,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoetHrotsvitha/pseuds/PoetHrotsvitha
Summary: Short pieces based on Tumblr prompts. Additional information on pairing, rating, and warnings in introduction of each chapter.The original prompt list (and my tumblr)can be found here.





	1. Jacob/Pearl - A Place to Belong

**Author's Note:**

> It was suggested that I might put these up on ao3 for posterity, so here we go.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: A Place to Belong. Pairing: Jacob/Pearl. Rating: M. Warning: Sexual Content.

He is a naïve murderer, a creature with razor sharp claws and an ever-so-soft underbelly. When she’s honest with herself, Pearl knows that she can’t get enough of it.

It’s such a beguiling mix. Something so powerful and weak at once. Can she help it if she finds it intoxicating?

There’s nowhere where it’s more apparent than when they’re in bed together; his hands are strong and his thrusts border on brutal, but every movement has an undercurrent of uncertainty, done with clear hope that he is pleasing her, that she is satisfied, that he is not a disappointment.

As he finds a particularly delightful rhythm, she reaches up and cups his face, sighing and arching into him. “Jacob,” she whispers, “so good.”

The flash of pride on his face is priceless.

“So good,” she murmurs again, stroking his back as he works. With time, he eventually gasps and falls over the edge of pleasure, holding her close. “So very, very good.”

As he shudders and groans, she’s almost thankful for everyone who was cruel to him before. It’s left this perfectly mouldable boy in its wake, and he is all hers. He will belong with her.

 

 


	2. Jacob/Freddy - Never Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Never Again". Pairing: Jacob/Freddy. Rating: T. Warnings: None.

Back to the brick, fingers splayed against the rough surface, Abberline resists the urge to vomit. It’s partly born of the copious beers sloshing around in his stomach and partly because he’s been running for almost the last ten minutes; either way, he doesn’t really want to heave on the cobblestones.

There’s the clatter of footsteps and Jacob lurches around the corner, the author of this misfortune. “I think we’ve lost them,” he manages between panting, “but we should go to the roof just in case.”

“Why must you— _always_ — pick fights—“

There’s suddenly a firm arm around Abberline’s waist, and he very nearly loses his precarious control on his stomach when his feet lurch off the ground. They’ve done this a few times now, but it never stops disorienting him, the sudden vertical displacement.

To his credit, Jacob sets him down very gently once they’re on the roof. “There. Home free.”

A bit shakily, Abberline pokes a finger against Jacob’s stupidly, aggravatingly broad chest. “I swear. This is it. I’ve said it before, but I mean it this time— I’m never coming out with you again.”

Jacob doesn’t even waver. “Oh Freddy, you don’t mean that.”

“I do!”

“You don’t.”

Abberline is about to protest again when he’s pulled in for a kiss. It’s messy and confused and their teeth sort of bump, and it tastes like beer and his stomach is still lurching, but damn it all— he melts into it anyway, compelled by this best and worst decision he’s ever made. This glorious catastrophe. 

When they break apart, he rests his head against Jacob’s shoulder. “I do,” he protests feebly, and Jacob just snorts.

He doesn’t really mean it, and they both know it. 

 

 


	3. Jacob/Pearl - Nature's Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nature's Fury. Pairing: Jacob/Pearl. Rating: T. Warnings: None.

Jacob is most of the way back to the train in a torrential rain; with everything so wet, he’s avoiding the roof, where the tiles are slick and waiting to help him lose his footing.

As he rounds a corner, he spots a broken-down carriage; a man is crouching next to it, clearly at a loss about how to make a detached wheel work again. He won’t be able to, not in this weather.

Jacob knows that carriage.

He hesitates before he steps up and knocks on the door. But sure enough, when it swings open, there she is. She somehow looks as composed as always. “Mr. Frye.”

“Miss Attaway,” he acknowledges. “You appear to be stuck.”

She sniffs derisively. “Apparently so. One of my omnibuses is nearby— I can walk to it, but I maintain hopeful that the rain may yet cease.”

Jacob looks up doubtfully at the sky. By his estimation, things are going to get worse before they get better. “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

“I don’t have much of a choice.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Jacob shuffles out of his coat, aware that it was the only thing really shielding him from the rain. “Here. Take this. Drape it over your head.”

Her eyebrows have risen ever so slightly when she accepts the coat, holding it in both hands, like she is waiting for the price for his gift. For the other shoe to drop.

There isn’t one. He’s a bit of a fool like that when it comes to her. 

“Evening,” Jacob says, and runs off into the rain before he can think too hard about how the coat would dwarf her, tiny shoulders and slender waist barely-there compared to his own frame.

 

 


	4. Evie/Pearl - Innocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Innocence. Pairing: Evie/Pearl. Rating: M. Warnings: Sexual Content, Cheating.

Evie can’t quite believe that this is happening, but she’s here, and the sheets are tangled around her legs. She can feel slender fingers softly combing through her hair, working out all the knots born of thrashing wildly on her back.

Pearl’s voice is soft in the quiet room. “You needn’t be so tense, you know.”

“Needn’t—” It’s somehow insulting. The next words come out in a hoarse whisper, tinged with disbelief. “I’m getting _married_ next week.”

Somehow, inexplicably, Pearl’s hair is still piled perfectly on top of her head, not even a strand loose. It’s all Evie can see when it comes to rest on her stomach, soft little puffs of air skating below her bellybutton. “Calm down, dear. By the strictest definition, you’re still an innocent.”

The wine from last night is still clouding her head and Evie can vaguely remember agreeing to something, something involving regaining a business contract or obtaining a monopoly. It’s all unclear.

“And if we do a little more…” Pearl’s tone is amused, and a hand starts to skate up the inside of Evie’s thigh. “Well, that won’t change a thing by now, will it?”

 

 


	5. Jacob/Pearl - Seeking Solace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Seeking Solace. Pairing: Jacob/Pearl. Rating: G. Warnings: None.

Pearl’s home was much nicer than the train.

It was nice enough that Jacob almost felt a bit awkward. _Bull in a china shop_. Like at any moment, he was going to knock one of the delicate little trinkets off the shelf, or send a vase plummeting to the ground. Which would be just like him, wouldn’t it?

The bed seemed safe. He was perched on the end of it, elbows on his knees, twiddling his thumbs together. He didn’t even bother to look up at the creaking door or soft footsteps; it would be her, probably still in her nightdress.

She stopped in front of him and touched her fingers to his chin, moving his gaze up. Twisting her wrist, she pressed her thumb to the space between his eyebrows. “So furrowed,” she murmured. “What is it?”

He snorted. “Nothing.”

“Mr. Frye.”

Closing his eyes, he relented. “Fairly certain everything here is too fragile to be around me.” Her included.

That earned a snort in return. “Not everything that appears fragile is so, Mr. Frye.” She leaned down to replace her thumb with her lips, kissing his brow. “And appearances of strength can be deceptive as well, isn’t that right?”

He sighed and leaned into the kiss. She saw right through him. She always did.

 

 


	6. Evie/Henry - Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ending. Pairing: Evie/Henry. Rating: T. Warnings: None.

“We had a good run, didn’t we, dear?”

Henry is asleep, as he often is nowadays. Sometimes Evie thinks it’s easier when he’s asleep.

She reaches out and twines her fingers with his, still warm and dry. Hands that held hers for years, that held their daughter, that arrived in London with arms full of medicine when Jacob was broken nearly beyond repair. “Layla asks after you. She’s taking to motherhood like a duck to water. She’ll come visit when she’s a little better- and bring our grandson, too. They’ve named him for you, isn’t that sweet?”

Henry stirs. Blinking into the dim light of their bedroom, he seizes in panic. “Where am- Evie? Where is-” His eyes turn towards her, unfocused. “Who are you? Where is my wife?”

It’s all too familiar, and her heart clenches. “Rest now,” she says, smoothing his brow.

Standing, she leaves the room and leans against the closed door for a moment. Soon, she promises herself. Soon. She can hear his coughing in the night; nature is taking its course. His suffering will not be forever.

The most heartbreaking part is, even amongst the grief, when the time finally comes- she thinks she will be a little bit relieved.

 

 


	7. Jacob/Evie - Obsession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Obsession. Pairing: Jacob/Evie. Rating: M. Warnings: Incest, Sexual Content.

It’s all so very, _very_ wrong.

Evie flips a page idly, but her mind isn’t on her reading. She can barely hear the train rattling along underneath her, or the scratch of Henry’s pen nearby.

No, her normally-disciplined mind keeps slipping to last night, a giggling siren call of distraction. To the scratch of a rough beard against her thighs, the twist of fingers that hit _just_ that right spot, the growl of satisfaction when she finally thrashed and keened into the silence of her train car.

It’s not right. It’s not natural. It chants like a drumbeat in her head, _wrong, wrong, wrong._

But she can’t stop imagining it, replaying it, dwelling on the details. The light bruises that now sit just above her hipbones, where he’d held when he yanked her to him, the taste of her still on his lips when he pulled her in for a kiss—

“—you think?”

“Huh?” She snaps out of it, twisting around guiltily. Henry is looking at her expectantly. “I’m sorry, what?”

He looks worried for her, bless him. “You seem preoccupied, is everything all right?”

A part-truth seemed simplest. “Thinking about Jacob.”

“Ah. I know his recent behaviour has you worried, but I don’t think you need to be. I’m sure he’s going to be all right.”

Oh yes, she thinks, looking back down at her work with a dry swallow. He’ll be all right— but will she?

 

 


	8. Evie/Pearl - Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Exploration. Pairing: Evie/Pearl. Rating: T. Warnings: Reference to Sexual Activity.

There is nothing about this that isn’t madness, Evie is sure of it. And yet, here she is, back at this windowsill, worrying at her lip and wondering how it all came to this.

Pearl barely starts when she comes into the room and sees her there, three stories up. The woman has a spine of iron. “Miss Frye— to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I,” she starts, words getting garbled in her throat. “I…”

With three quick strides, Pearl pulls her into the room, ending her indecision. “Back to explore some more?”

It sounds oddly pedestrian when put like that. Evie can’t understand why she’s tongue-tied; normally she is _braver_ than this, much more certain, more strident. Henry followed her every lead. What was _happening_?

For some reason, it’s a surprise when Pearl leans up— the woman is short— and presses their foreheads together gently, an oddly intimate gesture. “I’m glad you came back.”

But if Evie thinks about last time, it means she’ll be wondering about if there is a next time, and that won’t do. Instead, she decisively pulls away, yanks the blinds shut, and begins to undress.

 

 


	9. Jacob/Evie - Everything For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Everything For You. Pairings: Jacob/Evie. Rating: T. Warnings: Incest.

Jacob is sure of one thing: she is infuriating.

It’s partly because she won’t accept his help, partly because she won’t help him, and partly because every attempt at teamwork seems to end up in the gutter lately. But it’s mostly because despite all of that, he would still lay the world at her feet- if she would only let him.

When he gets back to the train, Evie is relaxing on his couch, boots delicately propped on the armrest. “You’re late,” she observes, flipping a page. “Out causing mayhem again?”

He shoves her feet aside to make room. “It’s what I do best.”

“Will there be something for me to clean up tomorrow?”

This obviously calls for his most charming and winning smile. “I do it all for you, sister dearest.”

She snorts at that.

“So…” He traces a finger along her arm. “Why are you here?”

A bit of a pink blush grows on her cheeks. Perfection.

“I see,” he needles. “For _that_. I’m just a piece of meat for you, aren’t I?”

In the low lamplight, her gaze suddenly becomes intense and focused. “That’s not true, and you know it. It’s never been true.”

Her words hang between them, as close to a declaration as either of them can manage at this stage.

The only appropriate response seems to be to pull her in for a kiss.  


	10. Jacob/Reader - Heartfelt Apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Heartfelt Apology. Pairing: Jacob/Reader. Rating: M. Warning: Sexual Content.

Your hands were pressed to your eyelids, trying to ward off the growing headache. You would either have to kiss him or strangle him, and you hadn’t decided which yet.

At least Jacob looked sheepish, hunched over on himself, hands shoved in his pockets. “I know, you told me not to get involved, but it worked out, right?”

Did four dead Blighters in your yard count as _working out_? Unclear.

“Hey,” he said, slowly stepping a bit closer, coming up to cup your face. You could still smell the tang of blood on him. “Let me make it up to you?”

You lowered your fingers long enough to narrow your eyes at him. “Make it up how?”

He answered with a series of kisses to your neck, his hands sliding lower until you were pulled flush against him, fingers gently kneading your behind.

Ah well. It wasn’t like the Blighters would be coming back, and maybe they’d leave you alone now. With a resigned sigh, you lifted your calf, awkwardly wrapping it around his waist through the piles of skirts.

In a flash, his hands were sliding up along your leg, looking for the slit in your drawers. You clenched your fingers against his back and wriggled with a little whimper when skin finally made contact with skin, stroking, little tingles skating up your spine.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, lips against your ear. “Really. I promise.”

You could only moan in response.

 

 


	11. Evie/Alex - A Moment in Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: A Moment in Time. Pairing: Evie/Alex. Rating: G. Warnings: None.

“What’s that mechanism for?”

When Evie is this close, Alexander can smell the gunpowder on her, vaguely dangerous and so _very_ unusual for a woman. As is her interest in his work. “It’s, erm, that’s to ensure that it tracks each second accurately…”

She leans even closer, and the rest of his sentence stutters off. He has got to keep his head on straight. She drops by for tools, and occasionally she’ll stay to ask about other things he’s been working on— he lies to himself about hoping that she’ll stay. And he pretends that he doesn’t spend nights dreaming up the kind of tools that might her come over again.

She gently touches the clock. “It’s funny, how much this machine rules our lives.”

“Very funny,” he immediately agrees. _Would you like to go out for dinner sometime? Is that appropriate? Do you even court?_

Evie smiles, and if nothing else, he’s grateful that he at least gets these small moments.

 

 


	12. Evie/Henry - Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Breakfast. Pairing: Evie/Henry. Rating: M. Warnings: References to Sexual Content.

“Jayadeep Mir, you’ve been keeping secrets from me.”

He looks up in surprise, halfway through buttering his bread. “Sorry?”

Evie can hear the water boiling for tea, but she can’t sit down for breakfast. Not just yet. Striding around, she puts her hands on his shoulders, leaning down to murmur directly into his ear. “When you carried me over the threshold yesterday, I thought you were as much of a virgin as I was.”

His cheeks grow red- adorable- and furrows his brow. “I am. I mean,” he shakes his head, “was.” It is _definitely_ in past tense now.

“You honestly expect me to believe that? That wasn’t the work of a novice.” Relenting, she goes to brew the tea, feeling the way his eyes follow the line of her curves under her robe as she walks away.

This time, when he speaks, he sounds proud. “You do my ego wonders.”

“Truly, though.” Returning, she sets the teapot between them and sits on the other side of the table. “Share your secret.”

He stares down at his toast for a long time before he starts to speak slowly. “There is a book, from India.” When he looks up, there’s a hint of teasing there, enough to make her heart start to race. “Have you ever heard of the Kama Sutra?”

 

 


	13. Jacob/Pearl - Forever and a Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Forever and a Day. Pairing: Jacob/Pearl. Rating: T. Warnings: References to Sexual Activity.

It’s hard to escape the feeling that there is a ticking clock being held over their heads, a guillotine that is going to slice down at any moment without warning. There’s the question of when he discovers the truth, of course, and Pearl doesn’t think that they’ll be able to survive that. But it’s too late to back out now.

It would be nice if they could survive it. There could be a future, then, with a house outside of London somewhere and maybe even a few little ones. She’s never been even remotely domestically inclined, but lying in bed with Jacob curled around her back, she suddenly finds that she wants it.

Forever. It’s a strange concept.

But Pearl is nothing if not prosaic. She’s spent her life thinking in terms of risks and benefits, costs and profits, incoming and outgoing. She knows a lost cause when she sees one.

So instead, she nestles backwards, pressing herself a little closer to him. There is no risk in here, right now, today. And if she pretends for a little while that it could be forever, well, there’s no risk in simply pretending.

It will have to do.

 

 


	14. Jacob/Reader - Only Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Only Human. Pairing: Jacob/Reader. Rating: M. Warnings: Sexual Content.

You’re sweaty enough that strands of your hair are sticking to your neck, the hot evening and vigorous activity making the problem all that worse. Even so, as you flop back against the mattress with a happy sigh, you don’t feel quite finished yet.

Beside you, you husband has relaxed against the pillows with a happy rumble. Rolling up on your side, you begin to trace your finger down the scars that lace his body, a testament to a long life dangerously lived. Other men might be self-conscious, but not your Jacob. It’s all you can do to stop him from pulling his shirt off at dinner parties so he can regale everyone with stories about each one.

As your fingers trace lower and lower, his neck tilts up a bit. “Love?”

You flutter your eyelashes at him, biting your lip slowly. “Think you have another one in you?”

“Good God, woman.”

“What?” You drag yourself up over him, brushing that stray lock of hair that always flops over his forehead. “You can hardly fault me.”

His chuckle is resigned, but the glint in his eye is wicked. “I’m only human, and not a young man any more.”

“Good thing I can wait, then.”

That earns you a full laugh before he pushes you both over and begins to kiss down your front. “I suppose there are other things we could do in the meantime.”

 

 


	15. Evie/Lucy - Excuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Excuses. Pairing: Evie/Lucy. Rating: T. Warnings: References to Sexual Activity.

Evie is only doing this because she needs to gather information about the Shroud. It’s what she tells herself as she moves silently across London in the dark, towards richer districts far removed from usual Rooks territory.

By the time she scales the side of a building and slips inside a quiet room via a window, the excuse is starting to wear thin even in her head. But she clings to it anyway, along with its final shred of potential when it comes to saving her sanity.

Lucy’s hair is down. She looks oddly vulnerable like this, perched at her dresser, running a brush through the long red strands. She doesn’t even turn around; instead, she looks at Evie through the reflection in her mirror. “You came back.”

“I did.” Evie crosses the room and plucks the brush from her fingers, taking over the duty. For the Shroud, she says to herself, even though she knows it doesn’t even make any sense at this point. For the Shroud. For the Shroud. Information gathering. Yes.

And when she gathers the hair to one side of Lucy’s neck and drapes it over her chest, exposing a long line of white skin from the ear to the curve of the breast where it disappears under the nightgown, Evie leans down to press her lips to the incline and stops thinking at all.

 

 


	16. Jacob/Roth - Everything for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Everything for You. Pairing: Jacob/Roth. Rating: T. Warnings: None.

Jacob has a long history of disappointing the people around him, but he’s never really cared about it. Frankly, he’s come to expect it. You can’t help but become numb to that sort of hectoring after a while.

So, it comes as a shock when he realizes that he _can’t_ seem to disappoint Roth. The wilder he gets, the more he lets his primal nature loose, the more Roth seems enthralled.

And this enthrals Jacob in turn.

It’s a bit like falling, and he doesn’t know where the bottom is, but he doesn’t particularly care. It’s not like he’s ever turned away in the face of danger before. Why start now?

“I have an idea,” he says one night, over the eighth beer.

“Lead on, my dear,” Roth drawls back, eyes burning like the devil.

And so it goes, until he finds that every action is starting to orient towards Roth. He’s like a small moon orbiting a chaotic planet, and he’s never been more determined. The destruction suddenly has meaning, and he wants to lay every last bit of it at Roth’s feet: a deranged offering to an anarchic God.

The best part is that Roth never ceases to be delighted. With every last gift, his praises grow, until one day it becomes a messy kiss against the side of a building after a truly furious brawl.

Jacob isn’t sure if it’s love, but damn, he’s ready to find out.

 

 


	17. Jacob/Evie - Gunshot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Gunshot. Pairing: Evie/Jacob. Rating: M. Warnings: Incest, Major Character Death, Suicide References.

It’s a sliver of time that rests between _before_ and _after_ , between _life_ and _death_ , between _love_ and _despair_. It’s a beat that’s long enough for a stray bullet to rip through Evie’s neck.

By the time she hits the ground, Jacob’s world is already over.

He doesn’t remember a lot about what happened directly after that. He knows that when he comes to, he’s kneeling at her side, surrounded by Blighters that have been so mangled that they are barely even recognizable as human. Body parts are strayed around him and he’s covered in blood. Her body is already cold.

The Rooks try to coax him back to standing, try to collect her body and make arrangements for a funeral and a grave. Some of the Rooks try to give him sympathy, but they can’t possibly know the extent of it. It’s one thing to mourn a sister, yes, it’s a lifetime worth of grief and regret. But to mourn a sister, a lover, and a partner all in one? It’s _unbearable_. Jacob thinks he will go mad.

In the meantime, recovering the shroud takes on new meaning. Lazarus was three days dead; perhaps if he can make it in time…

And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the black depths of the Thames where they can be together again.

 

 


	18. Jacob/Evie - Possession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Possession. Pairing: Jacob/Evie. Rating: E. Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content.

They move like people possessed. It’s all grasping, needy and angry, drunk on each other and adrenaline and fury.

Nothing about this feels real to Evie. It never does, no matter how many times they repeat the motion. It’s like ducking under a pool of icy cold water, going numb until the movements are not her own, but directed by some outward force that she can’t name.

She doesn’t know if it’s the same for Jacob. She assumes it is. It’s certainly not the movements of the brother she remembers, not when his hand shoves past her waistband and pushes into her, three fingers at a time as she keens. Not when his lips press against her own, uncoordinated and nearly drunk in their imprecision. 

By the time she pushes him over and straddles him to pull his cock free, she’s past even knowing who she is. It doesn’t matter anyway. Nothing matters when he’s inside her, bruising with his force, his teeth sharp on her shoulder. Nothing matters. Nothing at all.

They’ll come back into their own when it’s all over, and they’ll go their separate ways. But soon enough, they’ll be back, possessed all over again.

 

 


	19. Jacob/Roth - Possession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Possession. Pairing: Jacob/Roth. Rating: T. Warnings: None.

For all that he speaks of freedom and chaos, Maxwell Roth likes it when wild things are kept in cages. There's something appealing about the feral nature of a crow contained, fluttering uselessly against the bars, at his mercy until he decides otherwise.

He rather likes the idea of his little Rook in a cage as well.

It won't be easy. No, it will take careful cajoling, coaxing, making the cage look so appealing that the lovely Jacob Frye makes the choice to enter it himself. The darling thing is far too powerful to be forced. No, it will be that much sweeter, that much richer, if he submits willingly. If he begs to be possessed, used and abused until he is a shuddering mess.

Idly, Roth reaches forward and sticks a bit of bread through the bars of the birdcage. The crow hops over; where it used to try and attack the fingers that come near his cage, it now accepts the bread gratefully, taking it to the centre where it pecks at it viciously. It's still a wild animal, after all.

Yes, Roth thinks, that is how he will have Jacob when the time comes. He will wait until he can enjoy the boy as one pliant and grateful, kneeling at his feet.

 

 


	20. Jacob/Pearl - Innocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Innocence. Pairing: Jacob/Pearl. Rating: T. Warnings: None.

There's something wonderfully naive about him, and Pearl is pretty sure that it's what she likes the most. He's so willing to believe.

She can't remember if she was ever like that. She can't have been born cynical, surely; but then again, she doesn't know a time when she wasn't.

Across a lazy breakfast, she watches as he digs into sausages and eggs, food spraying as he eats like a barbarian. She could complain, but she instead chooses to watch the way the muscles in his torso move, each delightful shift visible while he goes without a shirt. "Jacob," she starts, "do you ever doubt?"

Thankfully, he swallows before he responds. "Doubt what?"

"I know you have a cause. Do you ever doubt it?"

"Nah." He stuffs a full piece of toast in his mouth. "Not worth the energy."

She ought to be repelled, but instead she's just vaguely impressed. Trying to hide a surge of affection, she takes another sip of tea.

He at least notices something is off. "You all right?"

"Of course," she murmurs, trying to speak past the inexplicable lump in her throat. "I'm fine."

 

 


	21. Jacob/Pearl - The True You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: The True You. Pairing: Jacob/Pearl. Rating: G. Warnings: None.

Jacob respects the tough shell that she's built up over the course of decades. It's a hard-won position, Pearl's independence and determination, and he can see its importance. Can admire it, even.

But every now and then...

It'll be late at night, or early in the morning. The immaculate hair will be mussed, some of the powders that she wears on her cheeks and eyes all smudged. And she'll smile at him and it'll be this soft, _sweet_ thing, and it's enough to make his heart ache.

He doesn't know if it's right to say that those moments of softness are more authentically a part of her. The jagged edges are just as beautiful, and they're surely as important in making up the picture that is Pearl.

But all the same, he knows that the he's one of the chosen few that gets to see the softness. It's like stumbling across a rainbow or a four-leaf clover, an unexpected little bonus in an already-good day.

For that reason alone, he can't help but treasure them. They're something delicate and beautiful that he can hoard to himself, secret things that he can fancy no one else has seen, that mark him as special. Unique. 

Maybe even loved. 

 

 


	22. Evie/Lucy - Shades of Grey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Shades of Grey. Pairing: Evie/Lucy. Rating: M. Warnings: Sexual content.

They meet so often in darkness that Evie sometimes wonders if Lucy would look different in full daylight. Oh, she knows what her face looks like in sun, of course. But she wonders if the soft white of her stomach is brighter, the dusky nipples pinker, the thatch of hair between her legs more red and less auburn.

It can't happen, though. Neither of them will abandon their causes, so as bittersweet as it is, they continue to meet at night and ignore everything but the immediate and desperate press of their bodies.

It's not all bad. Evie has come to respect the shades of grey that she makes love to in the dark, illuminated by candles or the light of the moon on the nights when it's full. There's something beautiful about vibrancy muted, the subtlety enhancing her enjoyment.

They might wither in sunlight. There's no way of knowing if the harsh brightness would show things that neither of them want to share- secrets that are better off kept hidden. From each other. From themselves.

Or at least, it's what Evie tells herself when she finds herself mourning the technicolor vibrancy that clear light would show.

It's safer in shades of grey. There is security in the dark. 

 

 


End file.
